Times are hard out there...Really?

iandury

In the news recently a big deal has been made about the shrinking economy, spending cuts, and how many people are having to cut back with many in severe debt.

Now i am a very privaleged bloke, and i am in a postion where business is good and i am able to draw a decent(not vulgar) wage.

I have read many times on this board how with people struggling in todays hard times that this will in some way effect the housing market.
Now with hand on heart and from where i am sitting and watching with my own two eyes i have experienced very little pain or hard times, if it is happening i have not seen it.

I am not completely naive, i watch the news and can see the jobless figures going up slightly, and i can see a little less traffic on the roads(but thats a good thing though is'nt it):), and we are all being a little bit more sensible these days.

In the last 10 days though i have been lucky enough to doing a little business/pleasure in West London and have been staying at a great place off the Strand. I must say if their is a shortage of money it does not show anywhere around here, there seems to be a lot of flush people around. Then this weekend i have been staying at a friends holiday home on the Norfolk coast, again, full pubs and restaurants, plenty of money flying about.

I see very little of the old image of desperate men with head in hands in dire straits. in really seems to be business as usual for most but just everyone being a little bit more sensible.

Is this picture right?
I would be very interested to know if in other parts of the country my rosey outlook does not fit what others are seeing, is it really that bad out there?

diable

Any tourist hot spot will not show if there is a shortage of money in the area.

System

I think it depends on the people you interact with every day.

I work in a large IT department and you wouldn't even know there had been a recession.

If you're mates with lots of self employed builders for example then you probably think the recession was a lot worse than it was.

kabayiri

I didn't really think about it before, but in my neck of the woods it seems to be all about margins.

Over the last decade I know a number of people who run small enterprises; flooring company employing 12 people, decorating firm with 8, etc. There are a lot of these around the country.

Recently, the recession hit some of these hard. For one guy, it was the big customer who went bang, leaving a bill into the tens of thousands. The cushion to absorb this was just about there, but the company went from 12 to 3 employees to survive.

It does seem that the business is returning for these people, but they have scaled back their business goals.

ladymarmalade1970

I think you will be unaffected unless you get made redundant. Then you would see. My OH and i are fortunate in that we have good jobs and if we were to be made redundant we would be compensated so with low interest rates and pay rises that we have received, we have it relatively good at the moment BUT i know people that have been made redundant and have been out of work for ages.
Contractors in IT used to be able to demand rate rises and literally walk from one contract to the next but not any more.
I think, like the other person says, it depends who you mix with and see on a daily basis.

Thrugelmir

iandury wrote: »

Now i am a very privaleged bloke, and i am in a postion where business is good and i am able to draw a decent(not vulgar) wage.

Do you expect your customers themselves to be unaffected by the fiscal squeeze?

Radiantsoul

I think that times are harder and people's perception of their future wealth and income levels has also declined somewhat.

People probably don't expect much in the way of payrises this year or next and I am quite sure people have downgraded their expectation of house price increases too.

ninky_2

we had a visit from a friend who lives in stockport and works as a plumber / general builder. he has virtually no work up there at the moment and is having to travel down to london to get contracts.

the north seems to be harder hit than the south - and the gap in property prices is widening again.

does this remind anyone of life under the last tory government?

Thrugelmir

ninky wrote: »

the north seems to be harder hit than the south - and the gap in property prices is widening again.

does this remind anyone of life under the last tory government?

The lack of creation of new private sector jobs will be become more and more apparent. The demise of the old heavy industries was merely papered over not resolved.

ninky_2

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The lack of creation of new private sector jobs will be become more and more apparent. The demise of the old heavy industries was merely papered over not resolved.

what could / can be done with the north of england?

bbc are moving departments there but i have my doubts over how successful that will be. as a freelance media type i still find the north hugely unappealing - and in this day and age it's the freelancers you have to convince to move as well as the safe staff jobs. i might get a six month contract up there but then what? in london there are loads of companies i can work for. and that's before i even get into the relative merits / appeal of living in london over living in salford.

the countryside up there could be a tourist draw if they actually invested in more wilderness creation. the weather isn't going to sell it but green spaces could if they weren't so deforested.

lostinrates

ninky wrote: »

the countryside up there could be a tourist draw if they actually invested in more wilderness creation. the weather isn't going to sell it but green spaces could if they weren't so deforested.

A friend of mine is posted for a year in the north being a committed southener. She is enthusing about the walking/abilty to camp in the area and the ability to get out of any light and sound pollution and not see people on more off beat walks/camping allowed spots. sounds heavenly in that respect at least.


I am keeping my fingers crossed that the dark skies movement makes an impact in more and more of the the country.